One Week Before Christmas
Christmas is really just around the corner. 2020 quite a year for everyone, the pandemic mainly just kept us inside our homes. So to bring some Christmas cheer, we decided to do more Christmas-themed projects these past weeks leading to the big day.
Last week, we shared how we made our "Gingerbread" House. It was our first time to do this activity, and we really had a grand time! Doing this project is fairly easy and in case you'd like to try it, you can check out our post linked at the right to find out how we did ours.
How About A Christmas Tree?
We live in a small studio apartment and having a big Christmas tree would definitely take up a lot of space. Hence, the idea for a 3D Cardboard Christmas Tree inspired by this pin on Pinterest.
There are a few skills that I'd like the kids to pick up from the activity - creativity, patience, and fine motor skills, being some of them. Colors, patterns, symmetry, and measurements are also there to be learned.
So without further ado, let's get moving and make our cardboard Christmas Trees. Grab your materials and let's do this!
You don't really have to go far to look for the materials for this project. You can use any carton box for the tree and then just paint it with green watercolor or acrylic paint after. For us, we decided to use green cardboard.
The colored paper will be used to decorate the tree, so instead of this, you may use old magazines or anything your creative mind fancies. The glitters on the photo are optional. You can add them in the end, to add some sparkles to the project.
- Fold the cardboard lengthwise then draw your Christmas Tree pattern (half - remember, symmetry). If you are using thicker cardboard then it may be a good idea to make your pattern using plain paper.
- Cut along the pattern. Make two.
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3. You should now have two Christmas trees. Get one Christmas tree and make a slit on it by cutting it along the center. Reminder❗️ Do not cut completely, but keep at least 0.5 cm at the top.
4. Insert the slitted Christmas tree on top of the other. Secure it with glue or transparent tape.
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And as easy as that, you now have your little Christmas tree. 🎄
We can now proceed to the fun part, decorating our tree! Yey!
As mentioned above you can decorate your tree however you wish. You may use some cuttings from old magazines (get the colorful parts!). For us, we made some small circles using our hole puncher then carefully glued them to our tree.
To give a snowy vibe, we decided to add some cotton along the sides of our tree.
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Completing The Tree - The Star and The Base
Well, it is not a Christmas Tree without a star, isn't it? For this, we put together small, thin pieces of wood from toothpicks, then wrapped it with yellow colored paper.
For the base, we cut the tissue roll into two. We secure the tree to the base by cutting a half-centimeter slit at the bottom of the tree.
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Now it's time to fix the star on top of our tree. Before we did, we added some glitters to add more sparkle to our little tree.
And there you have it! Our little Christmas trees finally adding some Christmas vibe to our little home.
The kids really enjoyed the activity. I was afraid that putting the small circles would irritate/bore them, but to everyone's delight, they even found it "satisfying".
We have one (actually 3) more Christmas project that we recently finished. We will share that with you very soon.
Hope you enjoyed this post. Let us know if you have also tried making this project, or are planning to make one!
Cheers!
Too funny, your son looks exactly like a good friend of mine's son! Probably a few thousand miles difference between us so not the same kid 🤣
Some really awesome Christmas Tree's your kiddos made! We are going to be making some more crafts for the house this weekend, looking forward to it!
The toilet paper rolls as a tree trunk and way to stand them up was a really cool idea, I might use that for ours!
Lol. I'll tell him he's got a doppelganger. 😂 Last week when I met a friend she also told me she saw someone who looked like my eldest.
Crafts with kids is a very enjoyable activity. They learn, enjoy and put those little hands to work while we get that bonding time with them.
The slot to make the tree stand on toilet paper roll was something we come come while doing the project, sure glad it worked. 😂 Until now my daughter is still talking about how I was able to cut the roll into two equal part without measuring it. She was so amazed. I told her that's what you call a "good estimate". 😅
WOW, I should try that at home. I think I have all of the things I need.
I think you will have fun making it. Enjoy! ☺️
I really like how you use photos and formatting to enhance your posts. You do a great job!
It is starting to get cold where we live. Just one of the signs that Christmas is coming. When we lived overseas, it was really challenging because for much of our lives we had associated the change in weather as apart of the holiday season.
Are there any things that don't happen where you live now that use to be signs of the holidays in the Philipines?
Thank you, I try to do my best. ☺️
Christmas is here is entirely different. UAE being a Muslim country, they don't celebrate Christmas. It is actually a working day! Though it could be in the discretion of the employer of they will give a day off to their Christian employee. Nowadays, the malls are at least decorating already but that's about it. The neighborhood is not as festive. You have to go to a particular place (mall or church) to get the vibe.
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